Once Upon A Time
by Peabodythecat
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince. He loved a beautiful princess and wanted to marry her. But, one day, the prince was captured and thrown into a deep dark dungeon. He was very sad, because he had no way to tell the princess what had happened and to tell her how much he loved her. Or that one day he would be free and on that day he would find her.


"Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince. He loved a beautiful princess and wanted to marry , one day, the prince was captured and thrown into a deep dark dungeon. He was very sad, because he had no way to tell the princess what had happened and to tell her how much he loved her. Or that one day he would be free and on that day he would find her.

Meanwhile, the princess had been taken by a bad king to live in an invincible fortress in the middle of the desert. The princess had plenty of beautiful clothes and jewelry and ate fancy dinners every night, but she was not happy. She wasn't happy because the king, who was a very jealous king, didn't let her make new friends. He got upset when she wanted to paint pictures, saying it made a mess. This made the princess very sad. But she didn't have anywhere else to go, so she pretended that she was happy. She pretended that she had forgotten about the handsome prince. She was very good at pretending and one day she even forgot that's what she was doing.

The prince remained locked away for four long years. He thought about the princess every day and even though he couldn't escape from the dungeon, he spent his time wisely, devising a clever plan to rescue her and win her back.

Finally, he was released. He was ready to find the princess, but he knew he could not do it alone. So, the first thing the prince did was get help. He went on a quest to the western lands by the sea to find his best friend. He knew his friend would help, but when he arrived in the west, the prince was dismayed to find his best friend trapped by a magic spell.

The spell was a tricky one. It made the best friend spend his days and nights trapped in a fog. No one else could tell the best friend was trapped. He looked the same as he always had and when he spoke, he sounded the same. He could eat and sleep and go about his business. But he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't feel hot or cold. He never felt hungry, but he never felt satisfied either. The best friend never felt sad, but he never, ever felt happy. And that was terrible enough. But the worst part of the spell was that for every night that passed, a little bit of the best friend's soul disappeared forever. And you may not know this, but once you lose your soul, you can never ever get it back.

The prince had arrived in the western lands by the sea just in the nick of time. For that night, at midnight, under the light of the full moon, the last piece of the best friend's soul was going to be sucked away by the dark magic spell.

Now even though the prince had been locked away for a long time, you must remember that he spent his time wisely. He had studied a great many things. So to his great relief, the prince realized he knew how to break this spell.

Before the stroke of midnight, he said the special words of friendship that would remind the best friend of who he was and how to feel. The bad magic was powerful, though, and tried to fight the prince. But the handsome prince's words were true and the pieces of the best friend's soul came rushing back and he was whole and alive and happy once again.

When the best friend heard the prince's plan, he immediately agreed to help. But the best friend was worried. He realized right away that no matter how brave and clever and well dressed they were, that they would need help. For the desert was dangerous. And the king was crafty and powerful. And the fortress would be very hard to breach.

Luckily, the prince knew just who to ask. And they gathered together the bravest, smartest knights in the land. Each brought his own special skills, but they were all loyal to the prince and would do anything to help him defeat the king.

And so one night, when the time was right, the prince led his men into the fortress. They tricked the king by using his greed and jealousy against him. The king was furious and raged through the fortress, vowing revenge. But it was too late. The princess saw the king for the bad man that he truly was. The princess was shocked to see that under the king's fancy ways he was a cruel man. How could she have ever believed she loved him?

He tried to stop her, but the princess ran from the king, leaving all her fancy clothes and jewels behind. And then something amazing happened. As soon as she stepped foot outside the fortress and breathed the clean desert air, her memories came back. She remembered the prince and how much she loved him. She remembered how much fun they had together. She remembered that the prince never told her that she couldn't have friends and never ever tried to stop her from doing the things she enjoyed. And then the princess felt sad because she didn't know where the prince was, or if he even still remembered her.

She stood outside the fortress, gazing at the glorious fountains that danced in the moonlight. Then she remembers a story her own godmother had told her many years ago. A story about a powerful fairy who made its home in magical dancing waters. If your heart was true, the story went, and you wished upon the brightest star in the sky, the fairy may…if you were good and brave and kind...and above all very, very lucky...the fairy may grant your wish.

The princess emptied her mind of everything except how she felt about the prince. She thought about his smile, the sound of his laughter. She thought about how he made her laugh in return and how he would bring her new paints when it wasn't even her birthday. And she looked to the brightest star in the sky. She closed her eyes and wished with all her heart that she would see her true love again.

When she opened her eyes, there standing before her was the handsome prince. He smiled at her and took her hand. They promised to love each other from that day forth.

And they all lived happily ever after."

* * *

And with that Rusty picked up his tiny goddaughter and tucked her into bed. When he finished, he saw Danny and Tess watching him fondly from the doorway.

He put a finger to his lips, "shhhhh...she just dropped off." He tiptoed out of the room, quiet as a thief in the night, and softly shut the door behind him.

Danny bumped shoulders with him and Tess gifted him with her dazzling smile.

Rusty blushed. "What? It's our favorite story..."

"Ours too, it's our favorite too."

And they really did live happily ever after.

The End.


End file.
